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Honoring the dignity of life
Church, MiCAUSE ramp up efforts to defeat Proposal 2 as voting begins
by Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published September 26, 2008
Detroit — As many Michigan voters await absentee ballots, intense efforts have begun in the Church to defeat Proposal 2, a measure that would, if passed, eliminate restrictions on the killing of young human beings for medical research.
The proposal seeks to create a constitutional amendment that would "prohibit state and local laws that prevent, restrict or discourage stem-cell research, future therapies and cures." It focuses specifically on embryonic stem-cell research — which necessitates the death of human embryos.
Each parish in Michigan is receiving this month various resources to educate the faithful on the deadly nature of embryo-destructive research, and to encourage prayer for the respect and dignity of life.
"In order to defeat Proposal 2 there must be firm opposition from the Catholic faithful," Cardinal Adam Maida wrote in a letter to pastors in the Archdiocese of Detroit this month. "Ideally, every parishioner in the state will hear homilies during this time that in one way or another urge Catholics to vote 'no' on Proposal 2."
While stem-cell research offers potential medical benefits — including treatments for conditions such as heart disease, paralysis and multiple sclerosis — embryonic stem cell research is only a small part of the overall picture. Embryonic stem-cell research has never yielded treatments or cures, and has proven unpredictable, often creating tumors in lab animals.
Moreover, viable alternatives to using human embryos have been found — such as the use of "induced pluripotent" stem cells, which are modified human skin cells that act exactly like embryonic stem cells. And acquiring them doesn't require the killing of a human being.
In his letter to pastors, Cardinal Maida states what Church leaders, as well as many scientists, have taught on the subject of the different forms of stem cell research.
"The Catholic Church fully supports and promotes stem-cell research that does not destroy the living human embryo," Cardinal Maida wrote. "We support adult stem-cell research, which has yielded dozens of treatments and cures for debilitating diseases.
"By contrast, embryo-destructive research is intrinsically evil and never acceptable."
While the Church is concerned primarily with the moral argument against embryo-destructive research, there's also a strong fiscal case to be made against the proposal.
Michigan residents soon will see the first television commercial produced by Michigan Citizens Against Unrestricted Science and Experimentation (MiCAUSE), the advocacy group opposing Proposal 2. The ad points out that other states that have unrestricted embryo-destructive research also have taken on huge tax increases — hundreds of millions of dollars — to support the research.
"Proposal 2 goes too far by being too costly to Michigan taxpayers," says Dave Doyle, spokesman for MiCAUSE. "What the proponents of Proposal 2 don't say is that embryonic stem-cell research is already legal in Michigan. This campaign is about prohibiting any restrictions or regulations on human embryo research, and has expanded to include pleas for taxpayer funding."
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